Camillus, NY Plumbing: Five Water Jobs, One Starting Point

Two things set Camillus apart before any pipe is touched. First, the Village of Camillus sits inside the Town of Camillus, and the figures for each differ. Second, OCWA, which lists both as supplied from Otisco Lake, is not the only supplier: the City of Syracuse Water Department also serves parts of the town. Your bill shows which one you are on.

On OCWA water, one OCWA statement has the Authority owning the line to the shutoff valve at the property line, with you owning the pipe from there to the meter or main shutoff plus everything in the house, while another says it owns only the meter, so ask OCWA. On City water the rule is split three ways: the City owns the main to the curb box and the meter, you own the pipe from the curb box to the meter in the basement, and the valves on either side of the meter are yours.

The housing is just as split. The village has a median build year of 1958 and 32.2 percent of its units date from 1939 or earlier. The town as a whole is younger, with a median of 1966 and 6.1 percent that old. A village cellar and a town split-level are different plumbing jobs, so the pages below say which geography they mean.

The state inventory lists 79 galvanized lines requiring replacement among 485 in the Village of Camillus (16.3 percent), and 102 among 9,325 in the Town of Camillus.